


Kataang Week 2020: Heritage/Responsibilities

by TheBakingQueen



Series: Kataang Week 2020 [5]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Kataang Week, Kataang Week 2020, Night Before The Wedding, Romance, Traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29033190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBakingQueen/pseuds/TheBakingQueen
Summary: 12 years of being endgame, 12 years of being possibly the most adorable couple in TV history, and 7 days with 7 prompts for 7 oneshots for our favorite couple. Kataang Week 2020 Day 5: Heritage/Responsibilities. The night before their wedding, Katara and Aang reflect over their heritage.
Relationships: Aang & Katara (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Series: Kataang Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129925
Kudos: 6





	Kataang Week 2020: Heritage/Responsibilities

It was a cool spring night high up in the mountains- cold enough to warrant some cuddling, but warm enough to not need excessive blankets or particularly warm nightclothes.

Aang and Katara were spending the months leading up to their wedding at Aang's childhood home of the Southern Air Temple, where the two eventually had planned to live permanently and raise their own family.

Katara sighed as she fell back onto their shared bed, curling into her fiance and finally relaxing after an exhausting day of wedding arrangements and preparations.

The topic of their wedding had been a hot one recently, both between the young couple, only 16 and 18, and the general population of the four nations, eager for gossip about the most powerful man in the world and his wife-to-be.

The airbender chuckled, pulling Katara close to him and kissing the top of her head.

"Tired?"

The waterbender nodded her head remorsefully.

"You were right," she mumbled into his chest. "I shouldn't have tried to finish that last bit on seating arrangements. Took way longer than I expected."

Aang shook his head and replied playfully.

"I try to something nice for you, what with all my Avatarly wisdom, and you just shrug it off. I hope you've learned your lesson, m'dear."

Katara looked up at Aang from her comfy spot on his chest, unamused.

"Don't you mock my pain, Avatar."

Aang laughed internally, lest he face the wrath of his exhausted, short-fused fiance, and gave her another loving kiss on the top of her head, which she happily returned with a nuzzle to his chest.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that, actually," he said looking down at her.

Katara raised her eyebrow.

"What? Seating arrangements?"

"No, no. Our wedding," he responded shyly, a light pink forming on his cheeks.

Katara smiled at Aang with the dopy adoration that only comes with being sleep-deprived.

"What about it?"

"Well... I was just thinking- marriage means we're probably going to have kids, right?"

Katara nodded.

"We have to, and I want to. After all," she smiled deviously at him, "we _do_ have an entire nation to repopulate. Which means lots of babies. With lots of practice in making them in between."

The airbender only blushed harder, trying to stop his mind from going to _those places._

"That's not what I meant!"

"Then, love, what _do_ you mean? You're not exactly being clear."

There was a brief silence.

"I just wanted to ask..."

"What traditions do you have in the Southern Water Tribe?"

"..."

"Traditions?"

Aang smiled shyly at her.

"Yeah, traditions. I mean, we're the last of our kind, Kat. The last airbender and last Southern waterbender. It's our responsibility to pass on our heritage to our children. _Both_ sides, airbender, waterbender, or neither. I was thinking maybe I could learn a little more about your culture and you could learn a little more about mine? At least, if that's okay with you?"

Katara gave her husband-to-be a wide smile and hugged him tightly.

"I'd love to, Aang. I want to know more about what your people did, and I want you to know about what mine did too. You first, though."

Aang raised his eyebrow.

"Me first?"

Katara nodded.

"Okay. Hmm..."

The airbender wrapped his arm around the waterbender, thinking.

"Well, for weddings there were a couple of things. The first was walking around each of the eternal tornadoes at each of the temples once the week before the ceremony to represent how central the four cardinal directions were. What else..."

Aang's eyes lit up, remembering another thing.

"There were also these string things. During the ceremony, three strings would be tied on each of the... participants' fingers, representing the three tenets of a successful relationship."

"'Participants'? Really?"

"I wasn't sure what other word to use! Now, shush, I haven't told you the most important part!"

"Oh?"

"The biggest part of the ceremony would be the matching tattoos the _participants_ would get in a place visible for the ceremony."

"...tattoos?"

Aang nodded.

"They weren't arrows or anything like our mastery tattoos, but smaller more intricate designs that the participants would choose. Most of the time it was a spiritual symbol, like yin and yang, or Tui and La, or something to do with the Spirit World."

"Hmm," Katara mused.

"Do... do you want us to do that?"

Aang blushed.

"I-I mean, um, o-only if you want to?"

He rushed.

"But if you don't that's completely fine- I totally understand. I won't push it or anything or-"

A finger to his lips cut him off, a dark pink filling the waterbender's cheeks.

"I'd like to get a matching tattoo with you."

She towered over Aang to give him a soft kiss on the lips as he watched in pleasant shock.

"I want the whole world to know I'm all yours. We'll decide on just what later, but for now..."

The airbender grinned, pulling her close to give Katara a proper kiss.

The two parted and lay in a comfortable silence, Aang gently stroking Katara's smooth hand with his thumb.

"Your turn, Kat."

"Hmm," the waterbender hummed, thinking back to the stories her Gran Gran had told her and the weddings she had attended before the men from her village left for war.

"Well, you already know about the betrothal necklace one. You know, carved from the groom and given to the bride-to-be as his ultimate form of commitment to her, yada, yada, yada..."

Aang stared at Katara with mock affront, dramatically putting his hand to his chest.

"That's all the recognition my months of hard work gets? 'Yada, yada, yada'? My one and only love has betrayed me!"

Katara giggled, rolling her eyes.

"To quote you earlier, 'shush, I haven't told you the most important part!'"

"During the ceremony, the officiator gives the _participants_ the marks they earned during ice dodging- the mark of the brave, wise, and trusted. The combination of the marks foretells the kind of marriage the couple will have. The spirits of their ancestors are then called upon to give their approval of the couple and they are blessed with a sprinkling of water from the Spirit Portal."

"Really?"

Katara nodded.

"That's cool. Hmm... You got the mark of the brave when we went ice dodging and I got the mark of the trusted, so what would we be?"

"I believe the prediction is that while we will have courage and trust in our relationship, we must both take care to incorporate knowledge and wisdom into our interactions with one another since that is the trait neither of us is naturally inclined to. I also have to take care to encourage you to be brave and you must, in turn, trust me."

Aang blinked, yawning a few seconds later.

"Nice."

"That went right over your head, didn't it?"

The airbender nodded, his eyes starting to droop slightly.

Katara shook her head, also yawning and snuggling up against her fiance.

"That's all right. After all, we'll have a whole lifetime to learn, right?"

They both closed their eyes as Aang used airbending to blow out their bedside lamp.

"Right. Sweetie- let's grow old together."

"Wouldn't want it any other way."

And sleep overtook them.


End file.
